Innovator Guidelines PDF Print E-mail

These guidelines are intended to help you understand what kind of innovations we are interested in, if your idea fits these guidelines we might be able to help you.  If so then please contact us.

Topic Areas

We are particularly interested in the following areas:

  • Energy - renewable energy, especially we are interested in distributed sources (small wind, hydro etc), biofuels - but not where they displace food production.
  • Emissions reduction - reducing emissions from industrial processes etc
  • Waste and Toxicity reduction
  • Water - cleaning water for drinking, or cleaning up waste water for reduced environmental impact
  • Food - increasing sustainable food production, especially in areas of famine or poverty or to feed cities.
  • Anything else which improves the environment, especially if it reduces poverty.

Where in the world.

We can work with innovators anywhere in the world, most of the people we are working with now are either based in developing countries, or are working on innovations where the intended market is in developing countries.

Stage of development

Often people come to us when they've had the idea and spent a fair amount of time, and often money, on trying it out in various ways. We are interested in ideas that aren't just in your head, where you have put the necessary work into figuring out whether its got some viability.

At this point most innovations would raise venture capital, however this can be hard if the idea can't be patented (for example because its been published), or if the people who would purchase the invention are poor, or just because the inventors are located a long way from venture capitalists.

If this sounds like your idea, and you are willing to give up the idea of making a fortune from it, then we should start a conversation. If it looks like the Venture Capital route is more appropriate for you we'll be happy to make some introductions.

For an idea to be able to scale then there needs to be the potential for it to be viable in its market, i.e. it has to be able to be produced, distributed and sold at a price its market can pay.  There is a lot that can be done to reduce costs, at all stages, but if the idea is going to always need subsidising then it can't scale enough to make an impact.

Not interested in ...

There are a few things we aren't interested in, at least not without a serious amount of convincing that you have something viable.  These include: So called "Free energy", "Zero Point".  We also aren't interested in Genetic Modification, or Nuclear because of the impact and risk inherent in those technologies.

What's next ...

Contact us, tell us a bit about your idea, what stage it is at, and its potential impact on the environment and/or poverty.

 

 

 

Last Updated on Thursday, 05 August 2010 00:02
 
 

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